Australia is jealous of New Zealand’s brand strategy and has yet to “crack the marketing code”, according to Tourism Industry Association New Zealand chief executive Tim Cossar.

Travel Today reports Cossar noted the green-eyed monster rearing its head on a recent trip to Darwin for the ATEC Conference.

And speaking at the 10th anniversary of the “100% Pure” campaign, Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said it would be retained no matter which ad agency works on the account.

My long haitus on the site has been the result of a 2 week holiday back to the States. Back to visit family, to visit my 2 week old neice, and to further plan for my upcoming wedding in September. It was a good trip; no a great trip, but it was a whirlwind of a trip nonetheless. Two weeks of nonstop activities has me longing for a holiday from my holiday. It’s good to be home though. It’s very good to be home. While I miss my friends and family, and always will, I’ve realised that Australia fits me. It’s a really good fit actually. Fifteen minutes into my drive from the Los Angeles airport, I remembered why I was always frustrated on Southern California highways. Fifteen minutes into a shopping experience at a local mall in San Diego, I remembered why an economy of scale has its positives and negatives. Fifteen minutes after I left, I remembered that I’m 7,000 miles away from my closest friends and family.

Living overseas has always been an adventure, but after returning home for the first time since leaving 18 months ago, I’ve been able to refresh my thoughts and truly understand and remember why I was so excited and jazzed about moving to another country. More specifically, Australia.

The majority of my trip was spent in San Diego, however between my partner and I, we had trips to Los Angeles (Disneyland), San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Each of these locales, although all quite different from each other, had traits that very similiar; traits that I wouldn’t have otherwise noticed had I not been out of the country for the past 18 months.

1.) Excess - That’s right, excess. America is all about excess. I love food, a lot, but I found myself rarely being able to finish the meal that was given to me. The portions were absolutely huge. People say that I’ve lost weight since moving to Australia. I was never THAT big to begin with, but I suppose I can see why. Unlimited refills on drinks (not a common occurance in Australia), towering mountains of french fries and more salad dressing that I know what to do with sat before me at almost every meal I had. I must say though, the unlimited refills on coffee struck a very pleasing chord.
Especially in Las Vegas, where excess is the norm, everything (and I mean everything/everyone) was in excess. Drinking, gambling, food ($9 Prime Ribs) were abundant. You couldn’t help but be surrounding by an uneccesarily large amount of everything, everywhere you went.

2.) Traffic - Traffic, and the way people drive. Large suburbans driven by soccer moms who, according to them, are the single most important person on the freeway, made only worse by the fact that they’re tailgating you in the slow lane because your 75mph just isn’t fast enough for them. Perhaps I’m stereotyping, perhaps not. Either way, drivers in Souther California as a whole, don’t use their blinkers, don’t let you in when merging, don’t understand where the fast lane is, and seem to think that driving 90mph while talking on their cellphone, weaving in and out of traffic in their SUV to get to their destination 2 minutes earlier, is the most important issue of the day.

3.) Outlook - This may seem a bit weird, but American’s need to lighten up, myself included. Things are too serious. Watching newcasters on TV, seeing people interact in a business environment, daily life seems to be a bit to rigid. Now I’m not saying that Americans don’t know how to have a good time, but c’mon, life is funny. Laugh at yourself, slow down, smell the roses. It’s not all about rushing from one place to another and checking things off your list. I know everyone has that kind of day every once in awhile, but have a chat with the barista at the coffee shop, talk to your coworkers, understand what’s going on around you. People tend to shut themselves off in Southern California. Windows on their cars are up with the A/C full blast, people walking around with iPods on, they order their coffee whilst on the phone, barely giving the person working the time of day; this is the kind of stuff that is a stark difference for me, between Australia and America.

While life would be different in any country, and each have their positives and negatives, this past trip has shown me that my decision to live in Australia was a good one. It’s one that has more positives than negatives associated with it, and although it has put me 7000 miles away from a great number of people that are important to me, I know that the ones that are truly great friends and great family members we’ll see on a pretty regular basis. To be honest, between Skype, Vonage VOIP, and email, I talk to my parents on almost a daily basis, and my closest friends almost every other day. The world is getting smaller. Maybe that’s a good thing? Fifteen years ago, Australia would have felt a lot further away, more isolated.

Either way, I love it here.

Are you just as tired of those hidden hotel charges as I? On a recent trip overseas, we found ourselves nickel and dimed to death. So I had a read around the net, and found that Andrea Bennett had the same issues as I, and put together a lengthy article on how to avoid these charges in the future.

(Travel + Leisure) — Shortly after its opening in 2006, I decided to visit the Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa deep in the Poconos. Upon my arrival from New York, I discovered the property had no cellular service, so I made several calls home from my room phone, expecting to fork over little more than a dollar. Imagine my surprise when my hotel bill revealed a $7.38 charge for each time I picked up the receiver, despite having never actually reached anyone.

Read the rest of the entry here. It’ll be worth your time, I promise.

As the rest of us get up at 6am to start our slow and arduous journey to the office today, one lucky individual will have what will end being the best job in the world.

Queensland, Australia tourism is hurting. Despite having some of the most amazingly beautiful terrain and tourist destinations in the world, the world’s financial crisis is really hitting the area hard. With hotel bookings down sharply, Queensland’s tourism board is taking it upon themselves to fix the problem:

They’re giving job seekers the chance to get paid $150,000 (AU$) to live six months rent free on the Great Barrier Reef. (Good luck getting onto the site. Apparently this sounds appealing to the entire world.)

The successful candidate will be asked to keep a blog and photo diary in exchange for six months rent-free on Hamilton Island as part of a $150,000 salary package that includes return airfares and travel insurance.

Australians and overseas applicants must be willing to “swim, snorkel, make friends with locals and generally enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and lifestyle”. Sounds really hard, doesn’t it? Tough life. They’re pretty much asking the successfull applicant to do what many of us are doing already: blog, photograph, and enjoy the world around us.

Pretty tough, huh?

I credit a lot of my “worldlyness” (is that a word?) to traveling with my family every summer as a kid. There is so much to see throughout the United States. But what do kids really want to see?

So many kids these days would rather sit in front of the TV and play Playstation or watch a movie. Fortunately for them, portable DVD players/TV’s are readily available, and at a very reasonable price too! Hooking these up in the car for a summer family roadtrip (something I look back on now and cherish) is now very easy, and will keep the kids entertained for hours in the car, between the destinations you’re headed for.

I can recall one summer in particular growing up where, after spending a few weeks with my Uncle on Vancouver Island (at the K.O.A. Kampground on the Malahat), my parents and brother and I drove 1/2 way across Canada, through Banff National Park, and down through the Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Bryce and Zion in Utah, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona before making it back to San Diego. If you’re looking to stay within the National Parks, here’s a great site that has information historic and easy accommodation in or nearby many of the National Parks in America.

Like virtually every other kid out there, my brother and I had a bit of extra energy to burn off. Ok, so maybe that’s an understatement, but especially after spending hours in the car between destinations, we were already ready to explore and undertake hikes at a moments notice. These hikes, and getting of the beaten path, were really the best ways to see the National Parks of America, and the very best way for our parents to keep us on the edge of exhaustion (which, I’m sure, made the trip a bit more bearable for them)

Really, it’s not that hard to travel with kids. They’re very simple creatures! (Of course, I say this now, after tormenting my parents for YEARS!) While I’m sure it varies from kid to kid, the hikes, the reward trips to our favourite fast food joints, and the occasional gift for being well behaved kept us pretty much inline (oh, and for boys, the ability to stomp, break, poke, and to all in all explore along the way helps too) for the trip.


It took us a few weeks to cover all this ground, but was well worth it. As kids, my brother and I learned a lot. So did our parents. But that was more about my brother and I. Now, at 30 years of age, I look forward to doing this with my kids. Whenever that may be.

While the rain is bucketing down in Southern California, and snow is falling throughout the San Francisco Bay area, us here in Australia are gearing up for a Christmas that promises to be full of laughter, cheer, and the beach. Ah yes, Christmas time in Australia. Warm weather, a few beers with close mates and family, and a BBQ. Now that Christmas is actually upon us, I’m ready to celebrate.

When I first came to Australia for Christmas three years ago, I thought I’d miss the cold, cozy weather that comes with Christmas; bundled up inside by the fire.

I was wrong.

There’s something nice about having a warm Christmas, sitting out on the patio eating a nice Christmas lunch, lounging away the afternoon in a chair, drifting in and out of conciousness. I may have been a Christmas purist in the past, but I’m a believer in a Southern Hemisphere holiday season.

The only downside I truly find to having the seasons reversed is that when winter does hit us in Australia, it’s long. Almost unbearably so. Why? There’s no holiday season to really break up the monotany of cold weather and the short daylight hours, and unlike schools in the States, the summer break and the Christmas holiday break are pretty much just lumped together into one. It’s like being born on Christmas, you’re going to get fewer presents, and people combining the celebratory times into one, which ultimately draws the attention away from you. Where it really belongs.

Do I sound bitter? Not at all. None of that really applies to me. I’ve got a summer (now winter) birthday in August, and I’m out of school. It’s not like I have a summer holiday anymore anyways.

I suppose July/August is a good time of year to escape Australia and visit the family back in California. I think I’m on to something…

While I never expect to read a normal news article on any given morning these days, this one struck me as a bit odd. More so because this is the kind of thing you’d think you wouldn’t want advertised:



The Australian Navy will be on a 2 month holiday.

I understand that everyone needs a bit of relaxing time off, and there’s nothing better for morale than a well deserved break, but why would you A)require the entire Navy to take the time off at the same time, and B) advertise it!?



Ok, so it’s not shutting down entirely, and ships already deployed will continue with business as usual, but what if, for example, New Zealand tried to attack. (Oh hang on, there’s nothing to worry about there, unless you’re allergic to sheep). The Navy has said that “If an emergency occurs, other personnel will be ordered back to work.”

Hmm, OK.

In all honesty, I don’t see this as being an issue. The Navy says this is part of an initiative called “New Generation Navy” aimed at attracting and retaining more staff by changing the culture of the navy and improving the work-life balance of personnel. Probably because they can’t reach their recruitment targets. A good start I suppose, but you need to do a lot more than just giving everyone some time off to forget about how bad their jobs really are.

Do you agree with what the Australian Navy is doing? Is it really a good idea advertising this ahead of time?

I was up at the shops today, only to realise this: The Christmas decorations are up already.

Now I’m in Australia at the moment, and Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here, but isn’t it too early? While I love Christmas (in fact it’s my favourite holiday of the year), I think that every year the holiday seems to be drawn out a little further. Now seeming to last over two months long, you start to wonder why…?

I personally think Christmas has been extended as long as it has because it has become a retail holiday. Apparently it’s all about giving gifts and spending money on each other. And while I love giving (and, I admit getting them too) gifts, we’ve lost track of what the holiday is all about. I’m not going to sit and preach about how one should appreciate the true value of Christmas, but I wonder this:

Do you believe that the Christmas season has been over extended?